Drama I Gibraltar/plot
The story opens with Adolf Hitler briefing Erich von Stalhein personally about a secret mission. He tells the secret agent that Germany would deny all knowledge of it if anything goes wrong and warns that Germans do not fail. Von Stalhein then departs for somewhere in a Focke-Wulf Condor. Meanwhile Biggles and Algy are in Cairo on business for their air charter company. In the busy marketplace Biggles spot someone he doesn't expect to. Marie Janis! And she is with Admiral Sir Cecil Homer Galahad. Is she still a German agent? What is she doing with the commander in chief of the British naval base at Gibraltar? There are now humourous interludes that take the next 9 pages. Biggles tries to follow Marie but accidentally pulls a camel's tail and is kicked into the mud. A friendly Arab takes him home, offers him a bath and some local clothing. Meanwhile, Algy spots a beautiful girl and tries to romance her but is caught by her husband. He pursues him with a sword and Algy has to hide in a wicker basket. He spots Biggles passing and whispers to him. Biggles buys the basket and has it portered back to their hotel where they regroup. Biggles decides he must report what he saw. Back in London, he tells Air Commodore Raymond about it. Raymond promises to check but wonders if Biggles is just being jealous. Later Raymond calls at their flat. The woman is not Marie Janis but an Italian Countess, Claudia de Mezala, renowned for her collection of Egyptian antiques. Sir Cecil is apparently in love with her and has installed her in a villa in Gibraltar. Raymond warns Biggles that Galahad is a highly respectable person, "whiter than white" and Biggles is to lay off. Not another word. But as Algy observes, "Biggles never gives up." The next day, the two of them are off to Spain in a Vickers Wellesley and make their way to Algeciras, opposite Gibraltar. Biggles suggests that they just keep their eyes and ears open for a lead. They do not have long to wait: from their hotel balcony, they hear a familiar voice. It's von Stalhein! He is asking two British naval ratings to hand a parcel to Countess Mezala. The sailors can't start their truck. Biggles asks Algy to keep an eye on them while he follows von Stalhein. Inside a bar, Biggles eavesdrop on a conversation between von Stalhein and a SS officer, Obersturmbahnfuhrer Kreuter. The latter thinks Marie Janis and von Stalhein have a crazy scheme which won't work but that's his personal opinion. Evidently the German High Command in Berlin supports the plan. Von Stalhein reassures Kreuter. Marie Janis is one of their finest agents. Dr Faust Menschensplatt is the finest physicist in the world. What is more, Hitler had come up with the idea himself. Biggles leaves. He's heard enough to be suspicious even if he cannot be certain exactly what the German scheme is. What is even more puzzling is why Raymond wants him to stay out of the whole thing. Meanwhile, Algy has taken care of his end admirably. He has offered his car to the naval ratings to use to get back to Gibraltar, then tricked them into a dark alley and beat them up, tied them securely in the back of their truck and taken their uniforms and base passes. Our friends don the navy unifroms, fix the truck and are on their way. They have a parcel to deliver to the Countess Mezala. With the help of the ratings, Biggles finds the villa of the Countess. On the way, they pass a pier where a Junkers Ju 52 floatplane is moored. The ratings tell him the navy had found it adrift off Gibraltar and had taken possession of it. Biggles and Algy hide the truck in an abandoned barn and proceed to the villa. The villa is not locked and looks deserted. They search the house for some clue about what the Germans are up to but find nothing. Biggles decides to lie up outside the house to wait for developments. After a long wait, they spot a group of men entering the villa and follow them. They go down into the cellar where a cupboard has been pushed aside revealing a secret entrance. Through it, they can hear the Germans discussing something--in five hours there would be a massive explosion which would wipe out Gibraltar, followed by radio-active fallout. Von Stalhein and Marie Janis would be coming to make a final inspection in two hours time. The bomb, they say, would win Germany the war before it had even started. Biggles and Algy decide to intervene. They charge into the room where some men are at work over a massive bomb. Biggles and Algy are unarmed and outnumbered but the scientists and technicians are no match for our friends and are soon knocked out. Dr Menschensplatt is the last one standing and he nervously draws a gun but he is easily disarmed. One of the technicians has escaped. Biggles goes after him. Algy takes charge at the villa and forces the doctor to defuse the bomb. The fleeing technician stops Marie who is driving up in her car and tell her what has happened. She tells him to drop her off at the captured Ju 52 and then go on to fetch von Stalhein. Marie, known to the guard at the Junkers as the Countess and the Commander-in-Chief's friend, is able to knock out the guard at the Junkers and get on board the plane. Biggles has seen all this happening and follows her on board. His first meeting with Marie after so many years brings back memories. Marie tries to take advantage of this and suggest that they start again but Biggles refuses to be distracted. He demands to know what is going on and where von Stalhein is. She offers to tell him if he will then let her go. He agrees and orders her to remain silent while von Stalhein boards the Junkers. he wants to catch him by surprise. Von Stalhein arrives and enters the plane but Marie betrays Biggles and yells a warning. Von Stalhein ducks and avoids a punch and then delivers a counter-punch which floors Biggles. He and Marie hastily prepare to take off. There's no time to release the mooring rope so they apply full power and succeed it breaking it. The Junkers speeds across the water but refuses to lift off--the mooring rope has jammed a control. VonStalhein manages to pull it up at the last moment. It narrowly misses a collision with a passing ship whose mast tears a big hole in the fuselage. Biggles is now awake and comes to the cockpit with his gun drawn. He tells von Stalhein to step into the cabin and Marie to take over the controls. Marie protests that she can't fly but Biggles tells her she can't do worse than von Stalhein. Biggles intends to question von Stalhein but he doesn't get the chance. The rudder has been jammed and Marie has difficulty controlling the Junkers. It aircraft lurches violently and von Stalhein falls out of the hole in the fuselage. Biggles returns to the cockpit and manages to turn it back towards Gibraltar. The aircraft is already badly damaged and barely controllable and now one engine catches fire. With a supreme effort, Biggles manages to make a crash landing. Looking up from among the wreckage, he sees Marie holding a gun over him. He challenges her to shoot--after all, she didn't care about all those of Gibraltar she was going to kill. But Marie refrains. She tells him she did enjoy the times they shared together and now she has to leave. Biggles says he can't let her go but she thinks there isn't much he can do about that. Marie walks away from the wrecked plane and Biggles realises that she is right. He can't bring himself to shoot her either. Back in London, Raymond tells Biggles and Algy that Menschensplatt had built a new kind of explosive device--an atom bomb. He was going to detonate it to destroy the British fleet at Gibraltar. Meanwhile, von Stalhein had survived his fall from the Junkers and was later seen in Norway. As for Marie, she had disappeared. "Spies usually do," Raymond says. Category:Plot summaries (derivative works)